


I’m Surrounded By...

by FawnoftheWoods



Series: Not Alone Anymore [18]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Canon-Typical Violence, Creepy Villian, Extremis, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Iron Man 3, Movie rewrite, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-18 15:03:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14215716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FawnoftheWoods/pseuds/FawnoftheWoods
Summary: Steve had just settled in DC when he got the news that Tony was dead.  The Avengers all answered the call. They answered the call that one of their own was dead and they were not going to let that stand.  Even if he wasn’t actually dead.(Rewrite of Iron Man 3)





	I’m Surrounded By...

**Author's Note:**

> Rewrite of Iron Man 3.  Moves the storyline to April to encompass Easter.  Directly follows "Return of a Villain and A Hero."
> 
> Part of the series, but can be a read alone if you know that: 1. The Avengers have been a team since New York, 2. Last mission had Tony bound to a medical bed with his reactor being removed, 3. The team knows Steve is in DC and that Hydra is in SHIELD

 

Tony winced as the elevator doors opened.  “JARVIS, remind me to turn down the elevator.”

“Of course, Sir.  May I also take this time to remind you to sleep?”  Tony grunted as he focused on the faceplate he was welding.

“If you won’t listen to him, will you at least listen to me?”  Tony spun around, practically yelping. Pepper sighed.

“59 hours!  59 hours, Tony!  You can’t keep this up!”  Tony turned off the Mig Welder with a sigh.  Bruce had given up at trying to get him to sleep nearly 10 hours ago.  He wanted to sleep. He really did. But each time, it was like he was laying on that table with his arc reactor being pulled out.

“I finished the upgrade for the fall market.  I’m being productive, isn’t that good?” Pepper shook her head.  Huffing, she set her briefcase next to the sofa and waved him over.

“I have to review this with you anyway, at least lay down while I do so.”  Tony blinked at her skeptically before nodding. He set his head in her lap and she started to review the next generation of the water purifying plant  aloud. With her fingers in his hair, the contract turned into a pleasant buzz until it was quiet.

* * *

Pepper glanced up as the door opened silently, thanking JARVIS for turning off all noises that didn’t belong.  Bruce froze, uncertain whether he was interrupting. When she smiled his way and nodded at the chair in front of her pointedly, he continued forward and sat, handing her the tea he had brought for Tony.

“How long has he been asleep?”  She smiled at his hushed question.

“Almost  4 hours.”  Bruce breathed.

“Finally.  I was getting worried.  It isn’t healthy for him to do this, you know.”  Pepper nodded. She glanced at Bruce a moment, biting her lip.  Truthfully she had interacted more with Bruce than any other Avenger at this point, since he had been contributing to SI for the last 8 months.

“Bruce, I’m going to ask him to come to California for a while.”  Bruce glanced at her with a raised eyebrow until she continued. “I know he is invested in the Avengers, but unless I’m next to him, he barely sleeps 2 hours before he’s fighting to keep his reactor safe.  There is a lot he can do in Malibu and it’s a home. Maybe more so than here.” Bruce’s eyes softened at that as he looked down at the engineer. Clint was leaving soon for a solo mission and Steve and Natasha were in DC, this would be a good time.  His friend tried so hard to do everything right. He needed a break.

* * *

“Hey Brucie!  How’s things on that side of the States?”  Bruce grinned as he heard his best friend pipe in over the speakers.  He turned to the screen where JARVIS had pulled up Tony’s video chat.

“Stable. Before he left, Thor decided Poptarts are the next best thing so if Pepper complains about the poptart bill, blame him.”  Tony pumped a fist in between soldering.

“Ha!  I told you he would find something he couldn’t live without.”  Bruce grinned, thoroughly amused by Tony’s energy and obsession with finding little tidbits about each of their teammates like that, something they liked without reserve.  Bruce’s weakness for berries was the first one he had figured out.

“By the way, Clint is determined to locate all the pumpkin eggs.  How many did you hide on the tower?” Tony had started an easter egg hunt, but instead of easter eggs, they had been finding little plastic pumpkins everywhere.    Some had candy inside, some had surprises inside. Tony had said it was like Halloween, but in the spring. Only Bruce knew the trick pumpkins had purple on them somewhere, the rest were treat pumpkins.  Tony had told him before he left so he wouldn’t feel obligated to be left out of the fun. The other Guy wasn’t big on surprises.

Tony laughed as he winced, accidentally soldering too close to this finger.  Bruce looked closer at Tony, he still seemed tired. Tony sighed.

“Yes, I’m sleeping, Mr. Worrywart.”  Bruce chuckled.

“Seriously, Bruce.  I’m doing a bit better.  Why do they call it falling asleep anyway?  It’s stupid. Who wants to fall on a regular basis?”  Tony griped as he closed up the panel he had been working on.  Bruce almost missed his mutter, “I hate falling”.

“Hmmm??”  Tony grinned at him as he held up his gauntlet.

“I said, I think I can call my suit to me without the bracelets now.”  Bruce perked up, interested in new tech. “Yeah, these sensors can be in my arms and interpret my body movements.”

“Tony, please tell me you are not injecting something into yourself without a doctor’s opinion.”  He couldn’t tell if he was more amused or upset, but Tony just waved at him.

“Ah, you worry too much, Brucie; no chemicals, no radiation beyond a small radio wave.  It’ll be fine.” JARVIS popped up on another screen next to him.

“Sir, I’m supposed to remind you that tonight is Date Night with Mrs Potts.”  Tony glanced at the screen for a moment before nodding to Bruce.

“Other honey’s calling, gotta go!”  Bruce shook his head as the screen went dark.  Quietly he sighed before speaking again.

“JARVIS, is he actually sleeping?”  JARVIS didn’t respond right away, which in and of itself was unusual.

“Sir averages 2.4 hours a night.”  Bruce raised his eyebrow.

“In bed?”

There was no answer.  That in itself was answer enough for Bruce.  He wiped his face with his hand. Something had to give.

* * *

Something had to give.  Isn’t that what he had thought?  Damn it, this wasn’t what he meant.  He couldn’t pull his eyes away from the TV as Tony’s mansion sank into the ocean.  He could hear the roaring of the waves in his ears. That was the last thing he heard.

* * *

Steve winced as he sat up and glanced over at the huddled form.  Hulk had been running and yelling for nearly 18 hours.

Steve had been shopping for their temporary apartment when he heard about Tony’s mansion.  He and Natasha had immediately headed for California in the Quinjet. They caught up to Hulk just past Cincinnati as the big green bounded counties at a time.  Steve had landed in front of him, hands out in the universal sign of peace. Hulk roared at him, but it sounded more distressed than angry, something Steve could relate to after losing Bucky.  He picked up a tree and threw it at Steve, who dodged it easy enough. Hulk didn’t seem to care, he simply picked up another tree and then a few boulders. Over and over, anything he could get his hands on, even a handful of dirt went flying as Hulk raged.

Now they were waiting for Bruce to return.  Natasha came out of the Quinjet. “Stark still hasn’t been found.”  Natasha had found the news story and relayed the more specific information to Steve as he stayed near Hulk without getting pummeled.

“However, Fury is certain the idiot is alive and in Tennessee, of all places.”  Steve sighed.

“Well, best place to hide is where no one is looking.”

* * *

Bruce had collapsed halfway through the night, shrinking down.  Steve had carried him back on the Quinjet. Natasha had gotten a hold of Clint in the meantime and the archer was heading for Pepper.  If Tony was alive, Pepper would be the person to see. While he was doing that, Steve and the others would locate Rhodey.

Turned out locating Col. Rhodes was a little more difficult than expected, but eventually Steve joined him on Air Force One while Natasha took Bruce back to the tower.  Steve just hoped Rhodes knew more and could say more than JARVIS.

Natasha poured Bruce into bed on the common room couch.  She wanted to be there when he woke up to make sure he knew Tony was still alive to get berated.  As she heated water for tea and put together a huge sandwich for Bruce, she reached out to Clint. She wanted an update on Potts.

Bruce’s groan interrupted her frown she had when Clint’s radio failed to connect.  It wasn’t often the archer ran on silent and with one teammate already off coms, him going dark felt wrong.  Bruce was sitting up when she made it to the coffee table to hand him the meal.

“Did I hurt anyone?”  Bruce’s mumble was around the sandwich he had pounced on.  Natasha shook her head.

“Didn’t Tony tell you to not ask that anymore?”  Bruce froze. Natasha hurried to talk as anguish entered his face.  “He’s alive. Fury thinks he’s in Tennessee, of all places. JARVIS can ‘neither confirm nor deny’ it.”  She rolled her eyes at that.

“Hmmm.”  Bruce sat up further, stuffing the last of the sandwich into his mouth.  “I might be able to help with that.”

Bruce opened a tablet and started typing.  Natasha watched for few minutes before going to clean the kitchen.  She needed to do something, but at the moment, she wasn’t sure what.  If Clint needed to run dark, then any move she made to find him could draw attention to him.  Phil had worked all the same contacts she had to find Tony and the Mandarin. Putting away food seemed to be the only job right now.  

Bruce’s cry of surprise had her back in the room instantly.  “He’s posted a message.”

“What?”  Natasha couldn’t believe he was talking about any of the social media sites.  Bruce shook his head at her as he started unlocking the file.

“Those watches everyone has.  They record and can send data to our servers.  Tony’s sent a message to the server.” Bruce opened the message and put in headphones to listen on speed as Natasha’s com beeped at her.  

“Barton, you’d better have a damn good reason for going dark!” She growled into it.  

“Yeah,”  Clint sounded out of breath.  “Potts, hmph, Potts kidnapped.  We’re at the waterfront near Miami.  They’ve got a lot of medical equipment here and I can’t locate her!  *huff* I saw as I was pulling up to her hotel. Don’t know about Tony yet.”  

“Got it.”  Natasha turned to Bruce who was still listening to the message.  “Any idea what the end game is?”

“Not right now, but you might want to get here.  I think it’s going down here, they’re all preparing for a fight with Iron Man.”  She heard Clint swear as a bullet shot, hopefully past him, followed by the sounds of someone taking a long nap.

“Hurry, Nat.”

* * *

Bruce kept listening as Natasha flew them towards Florida.  She’d gotten through to Steve briefly before he and War Machine boarded Air Force One.  Or as he was now branded, Iron Patriot. She had to roll her eyes. Tony had ranted for an hour about it.  It really did sound like some cheap knockoff of Iron Man when put that way.

“Tasha!  Get Steve on the line, now!”  She looked back at Bruce, activating the Quinjet’s Automatic Pilot as her attention diverted.  Bruce was next to her in an instant. “Col. Rhodes isn’t in War Machine! He’s standing next to Tony in Miami!”

Natasha swore and tried for Steve.  She got through to Clint to give him an update, but Steve was running silent.  It was standard on Air Force One that all communication went through proper channels.  She just hoped Steve was paying attention.

* * *

Steve gritted his teeth as President Ellis again thanked him for his hard work.  Apparently the president had been a fan since he was a kid. While Steve usually liked meeting his less fanatic fans, today he really wanted to talk to Col. Rhodes.  

When the President finally left to go to his meeting, Steve went looking for Col. Rhodes.  He found him at the door to the conference room.

“Colonel!  Do you have a moment?”  Steve halted under the metal stare.  Somehow it was much more intimidating that Tony’s Iron Man.  The team hadn’t actually gotten to know Col. Rhodes much. They knew he was Tony’s closest friend along with Pepper and Happy, but while both of those two had been around, Col. Rhodes belonged with the Air Force.  Steve's only real interaction had been some training they did together.  

Tony’s description of the man was always warm and friendly, but the War Machine Armor currently looked anything but.  Steve knew Tony had designed both and the pilot in there was the best there was, however when it turned his way, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

“Um, could we speak out of the suit, sir?”  He waited to see the face he’d seen on Tony’s calls so many times.  The faceplate didn’t open. Instead, in a move Steve recognized just in time, it shot a repulsor at him, full power.  

Steve rolled with the blast, dissipating it on his shield to prevent it from rupturing the airplane.  “Colonel, what are you doing?”

Iron Patriot didn’t answer as he punched the door to the conference room open and ripped the it off its  hinges. Steve heard a cacophony of bullets and repulsors as he hurried forward. A repulsor blast to the shoulder had him spinning away again.  He heard a crash from inside the room as he struggled to his feet. One of the security guards stepped around the corner, probably drawn by the weapons fire.

“Get to the President!”  Steve slid to a halt as the man smiled at him and grabbed his throat.  He then realized the man wasn’t wearing any sort of actual uniform.

Normally Steve would laugh a hand to the throat off.  Most people couldn’t do squat grabbing his throat these days, but this guy’s hands were heating up rapidly.  Steve knocked him away. He tried to leap into the conference room, but the guy scrambled on his back like a monkey.  Everywhere his hands touched, Steve felt his suit melting and his skin burning. He finally succeeded in knocking the man through a chair.  That at least disoriented him a moment so Steve could rush into the conference room.

Most of the advisors in the room were dead.  He knelt next to one who was moving from under half a desk.  “Sir! Where’s the president?”

The man shook his head weakly before passing out.  Looking at the blood under him, he was probably dead.  Steve was feeling a bit dizzy himself form the change in atmosphere with a hole in the side of the plane.  He heard another crunch and a repulsor and decided to worry about the president later. Right now there were other people on this plane.  

He hurried down the corridor to find Iron Man and the not-security guy from before locked in a stare down.  “Tony?”

“Cap?”  At least this one sounded like Tony.  He was jumpy after the Iron Patriot scare.  He didn’t have time to talk because a moment later the man blew the cargo and back door of the plane.  

Steve had done surprise drops before.  He’d never done them with civilians before.  Looking to one side, he counted 12 in the air and only 6 of them in military garb.  Iron Man was already collecting a line of them, so Steve hooked his shield to his back and headed for the nearest one.

The general was as calm as he could probably be as Steve caught up to him and locked wrists.  Maneuvering them together, Steve managed to aim for the next nearest person.

“Not quite how I remember it!”  The general was shouting in his ear.  Steve grinned, glad he’d found an old war dog first.

“New tricks time, Sir!”  The man gave him a thumbs up as they reached a man in a suit.  The man was more panicky, but Steve could understand how the drop from 20,000 feet could be a bit disorienting the first time.

They’d grabbed their fourth person, another military man, though Steve couldn’t see the uniform well, when Steve heard the familiar sound of repulsors coming up behind him.

“Cap, grab on.”  Steve reached back and trusted Tony to be able to grab his hand.  He felt his entire body relax a bit when the metal hand closed over his.  A moment later a mild electric shock passed through his hand and his muscles seized.  Looking down, he swore as the ocean came at them fast. They had one more person to grab.

A stewardess grabbed the last man less than 20 feet from the water and Tony worked hard to bank their descent without harming any of the normal humans.  Steve grinned as the electric current eased in his arms and their human chain dropped into the water.

Tony swerved to check on their passengers.  Steve took that moment to pull himself up into the side hold they used on the battlefield more often.  He looked back and saw all 12 people cheering in the water. Already nearby boats were trying to get to them and pull them out.

“You did good, Tony.”  

“Thanks Cap.”  The suit floated backwards a moment, “What are you doing here?”

“Me?”  Steve snorted in outrage.  “You are the one who’s supposed to be dead.  What the hell happened to calling the team?”

“Oh, yeah.  Sor-” Apparently they’d drifted to a highway bridge because a semi took out most of the armor.  Steve rolled away as most of it sparked on the road. Steve swallowed as he looked back to see empty armor scattering across four lanes of traffic.  He still hadn’t seen Tony, where was he?

He picked up the head piece.  A screen blinked, showing a map with a location for a few minutes before it sparked and died.

At least now he had a location.

* * *

Clint gritted his teeth as he snuck down the hydraulics of the plane.  The oil platform they had just landed on was not the ideal place to rescue anyone, but he hadn’t been able to locate Pepper until the freakazoids were putting her on a plane.  Whatever the hell Tony had gotten mixed up in when he taunted the Mandarin, Clint was glad the team was helping out.

Oil platforms were mazes upon mazes.  Generally only the engineer understood them very well, but thankfully they were all similar.  Clint had spent several days on one some years ago and hoped the theory held true. And that this maniac was predictable.

He found Pepper in the secondary reactor control room.  It was the fourth spot he tried, so he figured he was doing well.  She was bound to a diagonal bed that made his blood run cold a bit.  The main maniac whose name he hadn’t caught was talking to her.

“You think he’s going to help you?  He won’t.” Clint breathed a quiet sigh of relief at the idea that Tony was alive.  Not that he hadn’t believed Nat, but it was nice to have independent confirmation. He’d gone silent at the last base.  These guys were Stark-level geniuses and he didn’t want to appear as a beep on any of their machines.

“Having you here is to just to motivate Tony Stark.  It’s, um…” Clint watched as the guy actually seemed embarrassed.  Briefly, the archer wondered if he’d always been this out of touch with reality.  “It’s actually more embarrassing than that. You’re here as my, um…”

Clint wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer to that.  He was very glad Tony wasn’t here to hear the end to that sentence.  Even if Pepper Potts was the one who finished it.

“Trophy.”

Clint felt sick.  He could see Pepper felt it too.  Especially with the gleeful, lustful look Maniac had.  Clint was just naming him Maniac for the moment.

His gut clenched in relief as the rebranded War Machine landed.  Col. Rhodes would always back Tony. Clint could use the help.

Except it wasn’t help.

Clint swore and the  President of the United States fell out of the remote controlled suit.  This just got a hell of a lot more complicated.

* * *

Clint was huffing under his breath.  He was only one agent, goddammit! The president was strung up high and he was here with barely an arsenal of arrows.  

A few gunshots caught his attention.  About damn time someone arrived! Clint made his way down.  The President was easy to spot, Potts, less so. Since someone was making noise, he decided to risk breaking com silence.  

“Nat, you on your way?”

“I might strangle both of you when I get there, Barton!  Yes, I am on my way with Bruce. Steve’s off coms.”

“Roger.  Bad guys look like ordinary soldiers or civilians.  They have an ability to heat themselves like coals, but watch it. If they get too hot, it seems they explode.”

“And you’re on an oil barge.  Typical.” Natasha’s dry humor had Clint snorting as he made his way back below.

“I’ve been trying to reach Tony.  If you are near him, can you get him on coms so we can share data.”  Bruce’s voice was shaking. Clint hoped he didn’t have an incident here.  On a floating battlefield, that would not be ideal.

“No such luck.  I figured he was here from the gunshots, but I’m nowhere near them.”  Clint winced as he opened the door with a loud screech. “Gotta go.”

Clint cut the com just as he ducked under the punch.  Potts was still strapped to the medical bed, but she was conscious and didn’t appear to be in pain.  He counted that as a win as he ducked and dodged.

This guy refused to go down, it was like pain wasn’t on his register anymore.  A few minutes later, it didn’t matter.

Clint and his opponent went flying as one of the walls blew in.

* * *

Steve huffed as he landed on the platform.  When the suit had powered down, Steve had collected what he could and made his way to land.  The map had indicated a place about 20 miles east of him. He’d just started to consider what to do about transportation, when the suit’s helmet blinked back on.

_-Flashback-_

“State your identity.”  JARVIS’s voice was a godsend.  Steve hadn’t realized how much he had missed his friend’s voice chirping at him when he had a question.  Moving to DC for a month had been a necessity, but he missed the tower.

“Hey JARVIS, this is Steve, Codename Captain America.  Id number 04071918987654320.” Steve rattled off his information as he set about piling the suit in as small a pile as possible for carrying.  Tony hated to leave his tech lying around.

“Hello, Steve.  It is good to hear your voice.  If you will assist me in some minor repairs, I can pilot the suit and take you to Sir.”

“Sounds good to me!”

_-End Flashback-_

Steve hadn’t understood any of the ‘minor repairs’ but he hadn’t needed any tools either, so it had been fine.  Jarvis had him carry half the suit in his arms and place his feet in the boots. Although the boots couldn’t close, one of the hands braced his back to stabilize him and they took off rather fast.  

JARVIS had landed him about 200 yards away from the fight.  He’d get there on his own from here while JARVIS continued to repair the suit.  He’d made it to the deck of the battlefield just as someone took out a spotlight above.   He crept up the machinery to make his way to whoever the men were attempting to surround. Looking over, he had to roll his eyes as Tony simply stepped out in front of a dozen guys all pointing their guns at him.  He leaped in front of him and another man, presumably Col. Rhodes, and placed his shield between them and the gun barrels.

“Are you completely insane or is this just your god complex coming to life again?  You can’t stop a bullet, Tony!” Steve’s hiss was met with a scoff by Col. Rhodes, but Tony simply smiled and looked over the water.  A moment later Col. Rhodes was also looking over the water.

“Tony, is that…?”

“Yup.”

“Are those...?”

“Yup.”

Steve felt irritation well within him.  Bucky and he used to be able to understand each other that way too.  Right now, since he had no fucking clue what they were talking about, it was just annoying.

Then it was magnificent.  More than 25 Iron Man suits flew in, surrounding them on the platform.  Steve watched as Tony seemed to conduct them like an orchestra.

“JARVIS, target all heat signatures of Extremis and attack with extreme prejudice.”  Steve grinned as JARVIS’s voice echoed around him and the air was suddenly filled with Iron Men fighting.  He looked over to see Tony watching with satisfaction. He grinned and yipped as he leaped into the fight himself.  He saw Tony return his grin before he delved into the chaos.

Nearby he saw a few suits being literally torn apart by some of the men and had to swallow his revulsion at his friend being in those suits.  But he had to let that go to fight the ones in front of him and keep them from swarming him too badly. An explosion caught his attention since it took out a support beam for the rig Tony and Rhodes were on, but apparently the Iron Men who could fly weren’t the only reinforcements JARVIS had sent.  He wondered what Bruce would think of the Hulk-inspired suit.

He could hear Tony and Rhodes over the com they’d tossed him when he’d landed.  “This is how you’ve been managing your downtime?”

“Everyone needs a hobby.”

Steve snorted, “You were gone like a week!  You created over 20 of these suits in a week?”  He heard Tony chuckle before getting in a suit. They had the most ridiculous names but considering the way Tony had looked when leaving for Malibu, Steve was happy to hear some humor back in his voice.  He ducked as another flew past him with three hanging off it. Whether on purpose or otherwise, it crashed into a container carrying barrels of oil. At least, Steve assumed the flying, flaming grenades were full of oil as he ran and ducked out of range.

He heard JARVIS give Rhodes a lift to the President while Tony located Pepper.  “I’ll handle this, you guys go to the hostages. Yell if you get into any trouble!”

For a while, the fight went like most fights against large numbers.  Steve let himself flow into automatic responses. He dodged and kicked, using his shield as an extension of his body.  

It wasn’t until the next guy was taken out with a bullet that he realized the quinjet was hovering over them.  Natasha landed next to him, shouting on her com that to search for their com frequencies and patch them together.

“See, this is what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends.”  Steve groaned at Tony’s quip over coms but he assumed Pepper had responded, because a moment later Tony replied, “Yep, we’ll talk about it over dinner.”

“Tony?”  That was Bruce.  Natasha must have linked their coms.

“Bruce, you’re here too?”

“We’re all here, numbskull!”  Clint’s voice was exasperated as only Tony could do.

“See, sweetheart.  The team has-” Tony’s voice cut off, but Clint’s swearing told Steve it wasn’t a good thing.

* * *

Clint groaned as he tried to right himself in the pile of metal he found himself pinned under.  His leg was screaming at him. He looked over, but he couldn’t actually see Potts. He looked down to see a rather heavy beam resting on his calf.  

Suddenly the entire pile shifted.  Clint jerked his leg to him as he bit back a scream.  No sooner had he done that but the pile was set back down again.  Good thing too, because whatever was under him had shifted dangerously.

He heard Tony’s voice off to his left and rolled over.  The tremor in the billionaire’s voice was well hidden as he tried to calm Potts down.  Clint heard Bruce on the coms call out to Tony. He couldn’t believe the idiot thought they’d leave him to handle exploding men by himself.  What a ding dong! Had the man ever been on a team bef- oh. Right, he really hadn’t.

“We’re all here, numbskull!”  Clint tried to put as much levity and care into that phrase as possible as he hid his injury.  He finally could see Tony. Iron Man was trying to reach Potts when Maniac grabbed him and nearly took out his heart as he plowed him into the floor.

“Tony!”  The man looked at him and grinned sadistically.  Clint shuddered and pulled himself up by his arms.  His bow was under him, if he could only get upright.  The creep turned back to Tony and placed a glowing finger right above the arc reactor.  Clint clenched his teeth. If the sociopath melted the arc reactor, Tony was dead. He was toying with them.

“Do you feel stuck?  Like a little turtle, cooking in his little turtle suit.”  Clint swore under his breath as the singsong voice made his gut clench.  He couldn’t get a shot off, he was too buried in scrap metal. “Oh, Tony, she’s watching.  I think you should close your eyes.”

“Get off him!”  Clint hadn’t meant to shout, but the man was psychologically torturing the couple.  Potts was pinned under the metal beams less than 7 feet away from where Maniac was slowly cooking Tony’s chest right above the arc reactor.  One slip and it would be over in an instant for Tony.

The Maniac looked back at Clint with a gleeful smile.  Then he leaned back and punched Tony in the face. Or he would have if Tony hadn’t taken off the guy’s arm.  Clint had winced at that, but the arm was red and melting through the damn metal floor!

Clint barely had a moment to swear before Potts and himself followed the arm through the floor.  Whatever they landed on started moving and Clint could feel himself slipping off.

“Guys, I’m going to be airborne in less than 20 seconds.  Fuck! Pick-up would be good for me and Potts.”

“On our way.”  Nat’s words were reassuring as he felt himself and about 20 pounds of metal, slip off the platform.  Then his sight went dark.

* * *

Steve sent Natasha after Clint and Tony as the archer started cursing someone.  He headed for the president. “Bruce, any luck in figuring out a weakness for these guys?”

Clint’s request for backup cut off any reply Bruce made.  But Tony eventually replied while running after something.  “All data *pant* is on the *huff* AIM server under Extremis.  JARVIS, I need a suit now!” Steve heard him jump and fight. Knowing the physically most vulnerable member of his team was without his suit made Steve a bit antsy.  “Also, *hmph* if you activate their immune system *gah!* they will explode.”

Steve had to blink at that.  He had noticed the glowing when he landed a punch and their tendency to explode, but  “What?”

“He means, injure them enough and Extremis will take them out for you.  JARVIS has me in the data, I’ll let you know more when I can.” Bruce’s distracted translation was familiar.

“I got Clint, but he took a hit to the head.  He needs pickup, Bruce. Open the back door.”

“You need assistance, Tasha?”  Steve fought as Natasha replied that she was fine and could handle Clint.  That left Steve free to cover Rhodes as he proved he was Tony’s friend. He slip-lined his way to the president.  Steve felt his stomach jump to his throat at another best-friend on a line, but Rhodes made it like Bucky had before.

Steve focused on covering for him, taking out the men who appeared on the rigging while Rhodes landed on a suspended container.  He quickly learned that shooting these guys didn’t actually activate their immune system enough for them to go boom. Steve watched as the man cleanly shot the supports for the container and swung like a trapeze artist to the President.  Christ, no wonder Tony took insane risks. According to the stories, Rhodes actually helped tone down some of Tony’s more wild behavior. They were both nuts! Then Steve grinned, of course, so was he. He decided Rhodes would have made a good Commando, the guys would have loved him.  

Seeing that Rhodes had this well in hand and got the president on the ground with the suit intact, Steve turned to help Tony.  As he ran, he had to smile as Rhodes took off with the president with the warning, “Ready, sir?”

He could hear the president question in the background, “What do you mean ready?” before the man screamed as they took off.  The first time you rode the suit that way was a bit of a rush.

He found Tony trying to reach Pepper as she dangled above him.  He could hear him on coms talking to her.

“I’ll catch you, I promise!”  Steve pushed himself harder, trying to reach them.  He couldn’t let Tony do this alone. Vaguely he heard Natasha join him below, but he looked up in time to see Pepper fall.

Immediately he was on a snowy mountain train.  He heard the scream he heard almost every night in his nightmares.  Bucky… It was the same face they both had made. Same flail. Same scream.  

Suddenly he was emptying his guts on the metal grate.  His breathing was faster than when he used to have asthma and he couldn’t move.  He was so cold, he was frozen in place as Bucky fell again. The flame engulfed them one right after another.  The screams were so loud.

A sharp kick sent him flying backwards and a metal wall knocked what little air he had out of his lungs.  Looking up, he could vaguely see an ember fist coming at his head, but a familiar figure crashed into the woman.  Natasha bought him time as she threw the glowing woman off the landing.

“Steve?”  Steve shook his head to clear it, shoving the past into the back of his mind where it belonged.  Tony needed them right now. Looking up, he saw Tony and Killian fighting. He had to admit it was interesting watching Tony remove part of the armor right before almost losing a limb.  The engineer’s ability to think fast still amazed him as he and Natasha raced up to help.

With the three of them against Killian, it became slightly one sided, but the man would not go down.  He just kept needling Tony about catching Pepper. He would swat Steve and Natasha away like they were flies.  He was out to hurt Tony. Steve gritted his teeth; this psychopath had hurt Tony enough! The next deflection had Steve caught under a serious steel beam.  He could move it, but it would take a moment.

A suit came up behind Tony that actually seemed to surprise him.  It surprised Steve when he realized it was the suit that had saved Steve after Air Force One had exploded.  It crashed at Tony’s feet, but that didn’t seem to phase the engineer as Killian threw another jab at him.

“You didn’t really deserve her, Tony!”  Killian’s words had Steve pushing harder.  Natasha had already fallen off the platform below.  It was only him and Tony against Killian now. “It's a pity.  I was so close to having her perfect.”

Steve groaned and shoved, but the beam was barely budging.  Tony didn’t back down. Steve looked at him and for a moment, he saw Peggy standing there.  He could see her looking this ass in the face and saying the words Tony was saying.

“Maybe you’re right, I don’t deserve her.  But you are wrong. She was already perfect!”

A swift move and the armor that had been in pieces behind Tony covered Killian.  Steve had to smile at Tony’s next command.

“JARVIS, do me a favor and blow mark 42.”

Tony leaped at Steve just as a partial suit grabbed both of them and shot them away as the suit, and Killian, exploded behind them.  

Their flight path down wasn’t very smooth, but they were low enough that when they fell, Steve took the brunt of the impact just fine.  Both sat huffing a moment. Steve’s com had fallen out when the suit grabbed them.

“No more faces.”  Both men looked up to see a flaming corpse walk away from the fiery wreckage that was left of the tower they’d been on.  Steve took a deep breath to stand. Both of them were running on empty, but Tony was more vulnerable and Steve would be damned if another teammate died in front of him.

A pipe swinging out of nowhere solved the immediate problem.  Both panting men looked at Pepper as she glowed that frightening red color.  Steve blinked. Was Pepper with Killian? He couldn’t believe she’d betray Tony.

They just stared at each other a minute, until Tony’s mouth caught up, “I got nothing.”  Steve snorted, and he thought he was not smooth with the dames.

Steve heard a suit incoming.  Tony frantically tried to tell JARVIS not to attack as Steve remembered his original orders to the suits.

_JARVIS, target all heat signatures of Extremis and attack with extreme prejudice_.

Apparently Tony had lost his com also, since the suit charged its repulsors.  Pepper dodged the first blast, looking at Tony in irritation. Steve couldn’t blame her.  She ran at Tony there and Steve was amazed Tony stayed still. Either he trusted her completely or he was willing to let her do whatever she wanted.  Steve bet it was both. Regardless, she leaped up and punched a glowing hand through the armor and brought it to the ground. She shifted and grabbed a gauntlet and fired at Killian, who neither of them had noticed rising.  Steve bent over and picked up a missile rolling away from the destroyed Iron Man Suit and tossed in at the man.

“Fire again!”  

Pepper obliged and the explosion was impressive, and hopefully deadly.  Steve wasn’t counting on it until they found...something. There may not be anything resembling a body left of him, even not taking the huge explosion into account.

Steve huffed a breath as he saw Natasha hopping over the structure to get to them.  Leaning over, he heard Tony start to babble at Pepper.

“Looking good, Honey!  Why don't you dress like this at home? Hmm? Sport bra. The whole deal.”  Steve glanced back to see Tony reach forward as Pepper seemed to get ahold of herself a bit.

“No!  Don’t touch me!  I’ll-I’ll burn you!”  Tony patted her arm a few times as she jerked away.

“Its okay.  Its okay, see?”  He placed his arms on her shoulders.  “Not hot. Well, you are always hot, but not burning hot.  You know what I mean, right?”

Pepper giggled slightly.  It sounded a bit hysterical to Steve.  He couldn’t blame her. This had been a strange couple of days, even for an Avenger.  “Who’s the hot mess now?”

“It's still debatable.”  Tony’s reply screamed of an inside joke.  “Probably tipping your way a little bit.” Finally Tony engulfed the redhead in his arms.  “Oh god, Honey. I thought you were…” Steve saw Tony cut himself off with a shudder. Saying it would be too horrible.  Pepper let herself sag in his arms.

“Why, cause I fell 200 feet?”  Her mutter brought a smile to Steve’s face as the Quinjet approached.  

Steve jogged over to see Rhodes talking with Clint on the medical bed and Natasha helping Bruce secure the controls.  The President was sitting on one side, looking very shell-shocked. He ambled over and kneeled in front of him. “How are you doing, Mr. President?”

The man snorted.  “I think I’m not made to be a superhero.”  Steve grinned.

“To be fair, this was a bit of a day, even for us.  Usually we only almost die. No one actually does so, let alone comes back from the dead.”  Steve’s brevity seemed to help as President Ellis looked at him in astonishment.

“If that ever becomes the norm, you let me know and I’ll fund your team free pizza for a year.”  Steve laughed and shook his head. He glanced over to see Bruce stagger down the ramp and freeze.  It occurred to him that this was the first time Bruce was seeing Tony since the news reported the engineer dead.  Bruce seemed to hesitate for only a moment. Then, upon seeing some sign Steve missed, he rushed the couple. All three held on in a fierce hug.  

Rhodes came up behind him.  “You know, the Avengers were supposed to prevent that lunatic from getting into more trouble on his own.”  The mild censure in the tone was enough to get Steve’s attention. He glanced back at the Colonel.

“Not certain anything can do that, but we try.”

“You try from DC now?”  Rhodes tone was still mild, but Steve thought he heard a thread of steel underneath it.

“Temporarily.”  

Rhodes hummed.  He was watching the trio talk quietly on the burning battlefield.  “You are becoming Tony’s family. Be sure you commit to that.” Rhodes turned to walk back into the Quinjet.  Before he took another step, he leaned closer to Steve, “ _If you can’t, you fucking better back off, Captain!_ ”

Steve glanced at the strong back as the man walked away from him.  Rhodes had always intimidated him a bit. The man was a colonel at age 40.  He had a degree in engineering, and he used it on a regular basis. He was also one of Tony’s closest and longest friends.  Tony thought he was bad at making friends, but when he made them, they were amazing people.

“I can see why you are so attached to your suits.  What am I going to complain about now?” The trio was approaching and Steve could hear Pepper complain to Tony again.

“Oh, it’s me, I’m sure you’ll think of something.”  Tony’s chuckle had Steve chuckling as the other two kept teasing the engineer.

“You could start with his missed doctor’s appointment?”

“She doesn’t need your help with that Bruce!”

“Just trying to make myself useful.”

“I’d like Bruce’s input.  Tell me, Bruce, how is his eating habits these days?”

Tony squawked as the two of them kept teasing him.  Steve shook his head.

Yes, Tony was certainly surrounded by extraordinary people who clearly loved him.

Because he was an extraordinary man.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Steve's ID number is his birthday and his registration number together. Since soldiers of that era could rattle off their service number easily, it made sense to me that he would remember it easy enough.


End file.
